A senior leader at charismatic church Bethel has reposted a video apologising for wrongly prophesying that Donald Trump would win a second term in the White House. Kris Vallotton took his retraction video down shortly after November's election, due to his belief that there may have been a "significant amount of discrepancy in the [election] process". He said he would hold off making a decision as to whether or not to stick by his apology until after "the official vote count is complete".
Now, with the result confirmed beyond doubt, Vallotton re-uploaded his apology. "This is a repost of my original apology (from November 7, 2020) as I promised," he captioned the post. "Thank you all for being patient with me as we’ve waited for the Electoral College confirmation for President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris. I feel like I have more to say and I’ll be communicating my thoughts soon. This is an epic season of transition. I pray for hope and peace for our nation!"
In the video, Vallotton apologises for "missing the prophecy about Donald Trump".
"I was completely wrong," he added. "I take full responsibility for being wrong. There is no excuse for it. I think it doesn't make me a false prophet but it does create a credibility gap...a lot of people trust me and trust my ministry. I want to say that I am very sorry for everyone who put their trust in me and that there was this major, major mistake."
Vallotton went on: "I want to say I'm sorry and I want to look into the reasons why there is a disconnection there and what I heard. I have always believed that when you make a public declaration...that if you get it wrong, you have to make a public apology."
The pastor added that he has "never had to make a public apology for a bad prophetic word that I've given".
"This is my very first time," he said. "I feel a little burned from it. This was a very big mistake...I hope that you'll forgive me and I hope that we can all learn from it."
Despite Joe Biden's inauguration now just a week away, House democrats have this week introduce Articles of Impeachment against incumbent President Donald Trump, charging him with "incitement of insurrection" following the US Capitol siege last week. A vote on the impeachment is due to take place on Wednesday after Vice President Mike Pence refused to invoke the 25th Amendment, which would have declared Trump unfit for office and seen the VP take over for the final days of the presidential term.